What is Broadband?

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), for the purpose of interpreting its instructions in the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, has defined high-speed access as any Internet connection that offers more than 200 kb/s of data in either direction. Any data connection that offers more than 200 kb/s in both directions is dubbed advanced service.

The common term "broadband" is not defined, and is a vague concept in any case. Service providers, equipment vendors, and chip makers all use the term freely. When asked to define broadband after using the term in a speech he gave at ComNet 2002 in Washington, D.C., this past January, Ivan Seidenberg, president and CEO of Verizon Communications pegged it at 640 kb/s and above, which is as good a number as any.

Another perception of broadband has to do with video: one expects to be able to send real-time video streams over any connection labeled broadband. Even using powerful MPEG-4compression, a standard TV transmission still needs about 4 Mb/s to do that. So using the video definition, neither cable modems nor digital subscriber lines (DSLs) qualify as broadband.

But they do qualify as always-on, which when you think about it, is often all the subscriber really wants. At present, most subscribers seem more willing to pay for immediate access than for blazing speed. So, at least until a real broadband killer app comes along, that may well be the best real-world definition of the term.